Another Chance in Time
by Lietus Zephyranthes
Summary: Arthur Kirkland, an apothecary with no memories of his past, runs a spells, charms, and enchantments shop. One day, he's visited by a man who wanted an age-reversing spell. Oneshot. USUK. Complete.


"Tick, tock, tick, tock."

A gold pocket watch was hurriedly rolled into the red velvet handkerchief and tucked away. Its owner ceased the weary footsteps to breathe in slowly and raised their arm to knock upon the wooden door.

As the three clear knocks on the door was heard, the slender shadow inside turned away from the piles of paperwork to head toward the door.

"Welcome to Albion's Apothecary. May I help you… little one?" The young mage asked with curiosity upon being confronted by a child figure whose face was hidden by the hooded dark blue cloak.

"Are you Arthur Kirkland, the famous magician?" the shorter one asked without looking up.

"That's right, young lad." he answered as according to the voice he heard.

"I have a request for you."

Arthur had ran a spells and potion trade shop as far as he could remembered. Strangely, as far as he could remember wasn't far enough to tell if he had any family or relative, but the earliest thing he had remembered about his past was a very normal morning waking up. Since then, he had carried on with his normal routine at the shop, waiting for some indication of his past to show up, as no one in the village had questioned or even noticed if he had forgotten anything.

The boy stepped inside as the young owner had offered a cup of tea to further their conversation. It was revealed to Arthur then that the boy, who referred to himself as Alfred Jones, had been put under a mysterious spell that caused him to be stranded in time, his appearance now reverted to nothing a mere little boy. With his memory still intact, the twenty-years-old gentleman, stuck inside his adolescent body, had traveled from the neighboring kingdom from the West to reach the renowned magician at this small town.

The magician, who was about to turn twenty-three himself in a few days, considered the tale, then simply nodded to agree on lending the peculiar man a hand. It was not uncommon to his knowledge that an aging spells had found its way to his door. But age reversing spells were strangely little known about and were even rumored to be dark magic. It would be the first time that Arthur encounter such a rare spell, and of course he would not give it up for the world. After quickly jolting down a binding contract, he presented it to the man on the other side of the table with the content being an arrangement to meet again in a few days for his appointment.

"And I know you are probably familiar with the payment." He gave a small smile, his green eyes glistened as he looked down to the boy. Without another word, the small figure gave a sigh mixed with a small laugh and pulled out his prized possession, the gold pocket watch. The common payment in this world for magical requests was an object that was dear to its owner. It was the only way for the magic to even work, as even the greatest magician cannot cast spells to reach the bearer without the object channeling the energy. Of course the magician would get to keep the object after their job was done, as said in the binding contract.

Just a few days later, the little man headed back to the shop as promised. Only this time, he had with him a big suitcase. Arthur did not question, though the man explained anyway that it was his clothes and luggage as he had planned to leave right after all wrongs was right. The mage quickly got to work. With the pocket watch in his hand, he began to channel through to the man's spirit. To his surprise, though the watch was definitely right for the procedure, its functionality had led to much more than just the doorway to the other man's appearance timeline. As Arthur tried to revert the man's physical appearance to normal, time did not move forward. Instead it had reversed backward for him, and before he could confirm that the cause of it was definitely the forbidden black magic, his consciousness had left him. Arthur fell down, as the smaller figure hurried to catch his body in time.

"It simply had to be done. Forgive me, Arthur." The man gazed sorrowfully upon the sleeping mage. "Good night."

While Arthur was unconscious, his memories from childhood suddenly resurfaced. Tick, tock, tick... His first day of magic school came and went away in the gray fog. Tock, tick, tock... Memories about his family and friends followed with their living in a mysterious city called London. Tick…tock. The finally missing pieces slowly filled in the gaps. He could see himself lifted up and upon opening his eyes to a world of tattered fabrics that had woven his life, he saw the man. Ashes fluttered in the wind, sending remnants of time browned memories they had shared together, from the homely morning coffee that Alfred was always so fond of, to the setting sky seen through London Eye. His own words echoed throughout his mind with familiarity as the images escaped his grasp.

 _"_ _It's so hard to hold onto the little humanly contact we have."_ He said calmly as they sat next to each other one afternoon, watching their beloved city going down in fiery scarlet.

Then as the image shifted and burred away, he closed his eyes, his body listlessly lied on the worn-out sofa, his head fell back to the soft cushion. A small pain ran through the inside of his head, almost like the feeling when a tight string finally snapped under the pressure, but more subtle. And noiseless. A feeling of the calm after the storm.

He had stood up and walked away. Away from the room. Away from the city. Alfred's final words echo from the cold pavement of that early rainy morning before Arthur had cast the spell that disconnected their existence.

 _"_ _Being with you meant so much to me and even if you don't believe one word I say… It's alright. I will do the believing part, Arthur. I will do it for the both of us. Nothing will come between us and this vast distance will continue to shrink no matter what. All we need is time."_

・゜ . ・* ・ *・ . ゜・

Arthur woke up to the wind chime of a cool afternoon. The wind from his bedroom window felt strange to the touch. In his last memory, it had been of the warm spring morning.

"You are back." A man's tenor voice was heard from his right.

As he looked up at the other man's tired eyes, Alfred was sitting in a dark green suit next to his bed.

Arthur didn't say anything for a long moment until he had righted his mind. "I did not think that I would see you... Why are you still here?" He corrected as he sat up from his bed.

"Hey, I cannot leave without at least taking care of you after I had drained so much of your power to revert this curse," he looked down with remorse, though a slightly disappointed expression was clumsily hidden. "You can consider the contract broken. I will pay you in whatever way you see fit."

"I certainly had not heard of a 'curse' in place of a mere 'spell' from you." Arthur laughed and told Alfred to not feel bad. Had he already forgot, the Brit wondered. Or maybe… "The contract is certainly broken. But I will not accept that offer."

"No matter what?" The now taller man looked up with a pained expression.

"No matter what." Arthur sighed as he got out of bed. "Consider yourself a lucky man."

"What had made your decision?"

"That doesn't matter anymore." He closed his eyes.

"There must be something I can do. Please let me recompense, even just a little." The young lad stood up, the straightforward eyes didn't leave the mage's back as he continue to exit toward the door.

Arthur stopped and turned to look into the unchanging determined blue eyes. Then without breaking contact, he opened his lips, letting those words escape as he watched the man's familiar expression returned on his face.

"Then stay with me, until you have stopped believing."

* * *

A/N: This is a oneshot if you haven't noticed. But wait, before you yell at me for how unfinished this looks xD

This story is actually inspired by another USUK story that I'm planning, it's gonna be named "This Masquerade" (refer to my profile page for something about it, not much, just a summary. Yes, I wrote a fanfic for my fanfic that haven't even became a fanfic lol)

So if you think this is a good first chapter, please favorite, comment, idk this is like a kick-starter for my "motivation to write" bucket lol

Thanks for reading!


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